4 Reasons Why Homesteading Is Better for the Environment

You’re probably well aware of the financial benefits of homesteading. You may also be familiar with the positive lifestyle benefits. However, there are also numerous environmental benefits. Simply by planting a garden and growing your own food, you’re helping conserve the environment.

1. Conserving water – It’s true that gardening requires water. Your fruits and vegetables actually need quite a bit of water to survive. However, most homesteaders quickly realize that irrigation systems work best.

For example, you can install rainwater collection barrels and create a drip irrigation system that comes directly from the rainwater. Other people create grey water systems and hydroponic systems which reuse the water to keep the plant’s roots moist. It uses far less water than industrial farming and you know you’re eating clean and healthy plants.

The carbon footprint. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Smaller carbon footprint – When you grow your own fruits and veggies, you don’t have to drive to the supermarket to buy food that was shipped from another country. All of those transportation costs add up to a weighty carbon footprint. Homesteading means your produce department is in your back yard.

3. Alternative and sustainable energy – Many homesteaders embrace sustainable energy practices. For example, they might install a wind turbine or solar panels to help reduce some of their energy costs. And living off the grid also conserves fossil fuels and reduces emissions.

4. Biodiversity – Industrial farms plant fields and fields of the same genetically modified crop. From New England to southern California you’ll find the same soybeans, corn, and wheat. When you plant your own garden you’re helping to sustain plant diversity. You’re also helping keep the bees and other pollinators alive and healthy. Their survival is critical to biodiversity.

Homesteading can save money and it is a powerful way to reduce your carbon footprint and help improve our environment. It’s also a fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle. You might also be interested to learn that you can make money as a homesteader. Next time we’ll take a look at three ways you can make money homesteading.

The Benefits & Types of Composting Toilet Systems

Toilets are a huge contributor to the millions of gallons of water we use every day.  In fact, many older model toilets flush more than five gallons of water per flush and newer models flush between one and two gallons of water.  When you think about how many times you and your family flush each day, that’s a lot of water.  A composting toilet system may be the answer for some, saving an average of 6000 gallons of water each year.

Sun-Mar Excel Self-Contained Composting Toilets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Understanding Composting Toilet Systems

A composting toilet essentially uses little to no water and utilizes the concept of aerobic decomposition to change the waste materials into compost, or a natural fertilizer.  While there are a few types of composting toilet systems, they typically contain:

* A container where composting takes place
* Some type of exhaust system
* Oxygen supply to facilitate the decomposition
* A feature to allow any liquid to drain away 
* An access door to empty the compost

Benefits of Composting Toilets

We’ve already discussed the benefits of decreased water usage.  This not only helps the environment but it also helps your financial bottom line because you’re not using as much water and if you’re on a well/septic system then you don’t have to pay for regular septic system maintenance.

* Your composting toilet also makes it possible to easily compost other family and household waste including table scraps, yard waste and other compostable materials. 

* You don’t contribute to sewage system runoff and water contamination.

* You don’t contribute to soil contamination.

* The end product, the compost, is a valuable fertilizer with high nutrient levels which are ideal for gardening, yard maintenance and household plants.

* Composting toilets are easy to install almost anywhere and they cost about half as much as a septic system installation.  Also, the regular maintenance is much cheaper.

There are essentially two common types of composting toilets, the Self-Contained and the Centralized.  In order to see which one is right for you, it’s important to understand how they work.

Self Contained versus Centralized Composting Systems

A Sun-Mar remote (centralized) composting toilet system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Self-contained composting toilets have a composting unit beneath them to form a single unit.  However, a centralized composting toilet sends waste to a centralized unit in a separate location, like the basement, where it is collected.  You can thus have several toilets in a household all hooked up to a single composting location. 

Self-contained systems typically have an electrical fan, which means it has to be plugged in.  This uses energy and is thus not 100% green.  However, unlike central systems, they don’t need to use any water.  A central composting system still needs a bit of water to flush the waste into the central composting unit.

There are pros and cons to both types of toilet composting systems.  However, no matter which way you look at it, both options are more environmentally friendly and ultimately more sustainable than our standard water-wasting toilets. 

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17 Tips For Reducing Water Consumption

Water has become a valuable commodity and it is becoming more and more valuable every day. Water is one of the few resources we literally cannot live without for more than a day or two. Today, drinkable water is becoming scarce even in areas that have never had shortages before. There is only so much to go around, and as the population of our planet increases, we have to keep an eye on the responsible use of this most valuable resource.  To protect our environment and to save money, take a look at these easy water conservation tips. 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Turn off the faucet.  It nay sound simplistic, but the easiest way to cut down on water consumption for your household is to not let the faucet run.  Whether you’re washing dishes or you’re brushing your teeth, turning off the faucet conserves gallons of water each day.

2. Choose xeriscape materials in your landscaping.  Xeriscape plants can grow well even in desert-like conditions, and don’t need much water to thrive.  Plants like Thyme, lavender, rosemary, and others can grow quite beautifully on very little moisture.

3. Water your lawn and garden in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler to minimize evaporation.  This is actually better for your lawn and garden too.

4. Trim your shower time by a minute or two and you can save up to 150 gallons each month

5. Adjust your lawn mower to a higher setting. Longer grass shades roots and retains soil moisture better than if it is closely clipped.  Again, this is better for your grass and motivates the roots to grow deep making it hardy and thick, and it will need less frequent watering.

6. Use a rain barrel to collect water and then use this water to water your garden or lawn.

7. Use an automatic sprinkler system that’s easy to turn off and on.  That way you can turn it off if it’s raining or install a rain sensor so your system won't run when it's raining. (I cannot tell you how many times I have seen sprinklers running when it is pouring rain, or has just rained hours ago!)

8. Check your toilet for leaks and fix them or replace your toilet with a low flush toilet.

9. Use a water efficient showerhead and put aerators on all your faucets. I love my showerhead! It's one of the most efficient ones around, and the adjustable head provides great water pressure even when I only turn on the water part-way.

10. Only wash your clothes or dishes when you have a full load.

11. Visit only car washes that use recycled water. Or wash it at home yourself using one of the "waterless" washes available.

12. Use your extra water from cooking or water from pet bowls to water plants. I keep a watering can in the corner of my kitchen, to make it easy to collect excess water. Then I can use it to water the plants later.

13. Avoid flushing the toilet unless it’s necessary.  Don't use it as a garbage can where you toss tissues, cotton swabs and other items. 

14. Wash dishes by hand. But do it in a sink partially filled with water, instead of running the faucet the whole time.

Dripping faucet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

15. If you have a dishwasher, don’t wash your dishes before you put them in the washer and rinse them minimally.

16. Fix all leaky faucets.  Experts estimate we lose about 2700 gallons of water each year from leaky faucets. Plus they're just annoying!

17. Insulate your pipes so you don’t have to run the water as long to reach your desired temperature. Or get one of the new water-saving pipe flush devices that flushes the cool water in the pipes back into the tank so the water you get is hot right away.

Conserving water is not only an environmentally sound idea, it also saves you money.  As water becomes more and more scarce and our resources diminish the cost of water will continue to rise.  Practice and instill good water conservation habits now and reap the benefits for years to come - and protect our resources for future generations.

Video - Creating A Home Graywater System

Here is a really excellent and inspiring video on one home graywater system which is specifically engineered to use graywater to feed a garden, using a branched drain system as described in Art Ludwig's book, "Create an Oasis with Greywater". This is a more extensive and carefully constructed system that has been designed to serve as an example of a "code-legal" graywater processing system in California. For many homeowners, you would not need to be quite so particular. But check out this exciting method of conservation, and see how to build a full greywater system - what a great way to feed your sustainable garden!

Creating a Home Graywater System
Peak Moment 141: (same as 3/4/09 with added diagrams) Trathen Heckman takes us on a step-by-step tour of how to make a safe, ecological and legal suburban home graywater system. Follow the water as it drains from the bathroom tub (and sink and laundr...


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All About Greywater Systems

One great way to conserve water is to make use of your greywater. Greywater is waste water that has been used for washing, cleaning, or other household uses besides the toilet. Greywater contains no sewage, and its disposal is comprised of an underground system that purifies and redistributes the greywater from a building, usually a home.

Greywater towers in Arba Minch, Ethiopia (Photo credit: Sustainable sanitation)

Although this idea is pretty simple, and has been used for many years in many different countries, it's not as familiar a concept here in America, and many people have questions about greywater. How does it work, and what are the benefits? How do you reuse the greywater? Although there is some variance in the types of systems, listed here are some of the basic components common to most systems, and some suggestions on how the greywater can be used.

Basic Components

* The tank or sump
Similar to a septic tank, the sump or tank that catches the greywater is underground. Sinks, washing machines, showers, etc. are routed into the tank. Some states and counties require that washing machines connected to greywater systems have a 3-way valve to route the water to the sewer or septic tank if needed. This is in case diapers or items contaminated by an ill person are washed in the machine.

You can choose which kinds of water you want routed into your system - if you wash a lot of diapers, for instance, you may choose not to route that water into your greywater system at all. Or you may choose only water from your kitchen sink. Depending on the number of people living in the house and the overall usage, the greywater from one sink can be significant.

* The filter
The greywater needs to be purified or treated, and most systems do this by filtering the water through sand or soil. An amazing amount of purification can be achieved through soil alone.

* The pump
Depending on the slope of your property, you may need a pump to convey the water from one part of the system to another, usually from the filter to the leach field. Most greywater systems simply rely on gravity to move the water through the system.

* The leach field
Once clean, the greywater goes into a leach field, or an area where it can be reabsorbed into the earth. You can plant a garden or crops directly over the leach field and the plants will absorb the greywater as it comes into the leach area.

Greywater recycling (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Common Uses of Greywater

There are other options for reusing greywater, depending on the kind of system and the homeowner's needs. Here are some of the more common uses. (Note - see picture to the left - I love this idea! Water from the sink fills the toilet tank which is then used to flush - great innovation!)

- Increasing groundwater
Putting the greywater back into the ground once it's clean increases the groundwater. This is a significant benefit in areas where water is scarce.

- Flushing toilets
Some greywater systems skip the leach field and provide the homeowner with extra water he or she can use in various ways, one of which is to flush household toilets. This has the potential to save quite a bit of water for the homeowner.

- Watering crops or plants
Plants need quite a bit of water, and gardens and crops and lawns need even more. Plants thrive on greywater, which does not have any of the chemicals found in treated city water, and this is a very common and effective way to use greywater, and reduce your water bills at the same time.

Be sure to check with your local officials to find out about permits, environmental concerns, etc. before proceeding with your own greywater disposal system.

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12 Tips For Reducing Your Water Bill

Water bills can be astronomically expensive, especially during the summertime when watering your lawn and garden becomes a necessity.  This year in particular, many areas of the country are really suffering due to lack of rain - including here in Ohio - it's getting fairly dire here now.... Conserving water is an important topic right now for several reasons -  not the least of which is cost. And hot water, because it requires energy to heat it, is even more expensive.  Here are a few easy tips to reduce hot water consumption and cut your water bill.

 (Photo credit: tidefan)

#1.  Insulate your hot water pipes.  Insulation minimizes the amount of heat you lose and therefore causes the water to stay hotter.  This means you don’t need to spend extra energy warming it.  Moreover, you don’t have to run your faucet as long to tap into your available hot water.

#2.  If your dishwasher has a high temperature wash feature, turn it off.  Standard hot water temperatures and soap are enough to get your dishes clean.

#3.  Staying with the dishwasher theme, make sure your dishwasher is full before you run it.  Running half-full loads wastes water.

#4.  When shopping for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, always opt for an energy-saver model.

#5.  When washing clothes, use cold water.  It not only saves on your hot water bill, it also helps maintain their color fastness, making your clothing last longer. Most detergents nowadays are formulated to work just as well in cold water.

#6.  When washing clothes, make sure your washer is full and is set for the right sized load.  If you’re washing a small load, make sure your washer is set for a small load.

#7.  Take shorter showers.  Just cutting your shower length by a few minutes can save hundreds of dollars.

#8.  Turn up the heat on your hot water tank.  It may sound counter-intuitive, but doing this means it won’t take as long for you to tap into the hot water and your faucet won’t have to run as long. Also, if you have indoor plants or a garden, consider keeping a small bucket near the sinks in your house, so you can capture the water for other uses while you're waiting for it to get hot.  

#9.  Reuse towels and wash clothing sparingly.  The "wear it once and wash it" philosophy leads to many loads of laundry.  Towels, jeans, sweaters and many other items don’t always need to be washed after every use.  You can use them or wear them a few times before laundering.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#10.  Consider not bathing every day, unless you absolutely need to.  Many times, we don’t need to bathe or shower every day.  Every other day is just fine.  And with children, that is certainly the case.  A little wash down with a warm washcloth is typically enough on off days - although during a hot sweaty summer, you may need to shower more often than in the winter! Also when bathing the children, a few inches in the tub is plenty - you don't need to fill it halfway up.

#11.  Put a cylinder or tank jacket on your hot water tank to cut heat loss. 

#12.  Consider installing a heat exchanger.  This type of system recycles water from your shower, taking the water through the device where it is heated to the right temperature and then pushing it back through your shower.  The water that is being recycled is already fairly warm so it doesn’t require much energy to get it back to an acceptable temperature.

Bonus Tip #13. Install a low-flow or water-saving showerhead. Not only will you save water, but many of today's low-flow shower heads offer superior-feeling water pressure and are quite affordable (I absolutely love mine - it's amazing and feels like I have better water pressure than a regular shower head - even when I don't even turn it on all the way.)

Cutting down on hot water bills not only saves on your monthly utility bills, it is also good for the environment.  Choose just a handful of these tips, implement them, and watch your water bills shrink. And to conserve even more water, be sure to check back Wednesday to learn about greywater systems.

Water-Saving Shower Heads: